“While AI has yet to attain human-like cognition, artificial neural networks that replicate language processing — a system thought to be a critical component behind higher cognition — are starting to look surprisingly similar to what we see taking place in the brain.”
“In November, a group of researchers at MIT published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrating that analyzing trends in machine learning can provide a window into these mechanisms of higher cognitive brain function. Perhaps even more astounding is the study’s implication that AI is undergoing a convergent evolution with nature — without anyone programming it to do so.“
“Artificial intelligence powered by machine learning has made impressive strides in recent years, especially in the field of visual recognition. Instagram uses image recognition AI to describe photos for the visually impaired, Google uses it for its reverse-image search function, and facial recognition algorithms from companies like Clearview AI help law enforcement agencies match images on social media to those in government databases to identify wanted individuals.”
“One of the reasons the study is so fascinating is that these insights into cognition simultaneously point to a kind of ‘AI evolution’ that’s taking place, one that has until recently gone unnoticed. It’s important to remember that nobody intentionally programmed any of these models to act like the brain, but over the course of building and upgrading them, we seem to have stumbled into a process a bit like the one that produced the brain itself.”